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General Climbing Discussion

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Flying the flag for old people 18-Nov-2005 At 1:15:12 PM Richard

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my tips and tricks for outdoor climbing / camping with a baby;

1. give up your own ambitions and make sure your partner has fun first (ie they get to climb before you do)... what goes around comes around..if they don't enjoy the trip, you wont.

2. go climbing in groups, to areas which are kid freindly (as said, why araps is so popular - though multi pitch climbs take time and hence make it hard for both parents to climb simulatenously. try urinal wall, black hill & summer day valley. camels hump sucks, trust me...

3. adjust your expectations so you don't get disapointed. Lets see, cup weekend, i managed 4 pitches in 4 days... Three days at black ians, managed 4 climbs. (Though we don't climb slow, even without children we never did 10 climbs a day like some people seem to manage.) Still, i had fun on both trips.

4. try and get to the indoor gym regularly .. so at least your not doing no climbing. a good oppotrunity for the grandparents to see more of their grandchild!!

5. try and find a shady place you can park the stroller so the baby can get its daytime sleep. This is probably the hardest part - if they don't sleep, you hear about it. Take something to keep the stroller dark. The alternatives are;
only do day trips and get someone to baby sit,
one of you does not climb that day and the baby sleeps in the tent
At araps we have sometimes managed to have a non climber in the group offer to baby sit, once we have put her to sleep. Luckily she sleeps well in a tent even during daylight hours - we have never had total darkness in her room so she does not expetc this when sleeping.

cheers